Studying the compressive strength, permeability and reinforcement corrosion of concrete samples containing silica fume, fly ash and zeolite

Reinforced concrete is the most commonly used construction material. The durability of reinforced concrete mostly depends on the surrounding environmental and exposure conditions such as carbonation, corrosion, and freezing and thawing. Corrosion of steel in concrete is one of the major causes of premature deterioration of reinforced concrete structures, leading to structural failure and is largely controlled by the permeability of the concrete cover to protect the steel reinforcement from corrosion. Therefore, the effect of silica fume, fly ash and zeolite pozzolans on the compressive strength, permeability and reinforcement corrosion is evaluated in this investigation. The compressive strength of 7 and 28-day concrete samples results show that silica fume results in compressive strength increase with respect to the control sample (without any pozzolans). Except for the samples containing zeolite with replacement weight percentages equal to 5, 10 and 15 percentage and fly ash with replacement weight percentage equal to 5 percentage, in other cases the compressive strength of 28-day samples containing fly ash and zeolite are lower than that of the control sample. The results of cylindrical chamber test also represent the permeability reduction of the 7-day samples containing these pozzolans with respect to the control sample. Based on the half-cell method test results, it is also observed that the resistance to corrosion of reinforcement concrete containing silica fume and zeolite is improved by using these pozzolans.